Visiting Maya Ruins of Copan
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Tue 13 Apr 2010 02:36
and lots of character, and since we were there on the weekend there markets.
It was also quite cool which was un expected, but welcome. We had a great
dinner out, the food was so tender, and you can see the boys on the outside
riding a small tractor.
The next day we woke to the street market being formed Tracy had gone out
early to take some photos, and I had the boys to breakfast, our hotel was on
the edge of main square.
We did a 2 hour guided tour around the Maya ruins which the boys enjoyed as
well, Sean asked many questions, even Alex was pointing out the animals in
the carvings. Tracy had been here before and both of us have been to Tikel
before but I again was very impressed by this place size etc. I sat in the
middle of this massive plaza, where they played games, the space was the
size of an over sized football field, but stands on the side, and these
sloping stone sides which are apart of the game where the ball rolled up,
the big issue with this game if you ended up winning you were beheaded, (it
is one way of evening up the competition). But as sat and took in the
magnitude and sophistication of this Maya civilization not just to build
this but also their numbering system, and grasp of the solar system and then
the architecture. An example was the plaza I was in is about 150 feet above
the river, and it has a drainage system put in by the Mayans to the point
that when Hurricane Mitch (major hurricane about 5 years ago cat 5) hit, all
the cities around flooded, this did not, it drained and no damage, you just
wonder how many Mitch's this has been through. Then in the next thought you
wonder how such a civilization can just become extinct and vanish, and they
knew it was happening as the final ruler is on the carvings with the first
ruler and tributes to each in the middle, and they knew it was ending, there
are many theory's but like when I lived in Eygpt the pyramids had the same
effect.
We left there feeling very humble, yet we are in the middle of jungle.
After a brief swim in a pool we headed off back to El Salvador crossing the
borders. I had a call from Rashesh (work catch up) to call him Sunday, well
when the message came through and I could speak to him I was sitting on a
bridge between Guatemala and El Salvador waiting for immigration to finish
lunch so we could get processed. Yet the phone still works, certainly the
cell/ mobile phone network has transformed communication in Central America
with me not dropping a signal the whole trip, (better than USA) they using
the mobile infrastructure similar to the way Africa dealt with the distances
and people in remote places, so in one day the ancient and then the modern.
We stopped in a super market for an hour in San Salvador (see photo) to get
3 weeks supplies, and we were surprised at what we could get, it is very
well stocked and clean, as good as USA.
So a tired bunch of us fell back into the boat but a very worth while trip,
to only be woken at midnight by one our dive tanks venting off with large
amount of noise. But it was nice to arrive back to familiar place at Bahia
De Sol.
Today was a day of cleaning and rest, Gary flew back to USA, and our
appreciation for his time and efforts it certainly made a big difference. So
Thank you Gary and we look forward to your return for other legs, Sean and
Alex asked where you were tonight. Tracy spent the reorganizing and cleaning
the boat and swapping toys as it has been in passage mode for a month plus
now, and we need to switch it to living/ cruising mode, with space and the
downstairs set up as a lounge room.
We had 2 more boats come in today, both Cats one was on the Gulf of T
crossing with Sunsensation as they had stopped in Guatemala on the way down.
We will explore more locally on the island tomorrow, getting the boys to go
to a local school.
Stay tuned
